Cardington vs IAM Advanced

Afternoon ladies and gents,

Anyone have an opinion on the DSA Cardington test and the IAM Advanced test? I'm guessing the driving style is different for each, but is one "more advanced" than the other? Would I be better off qualifying as an ADI and going for the cardington or doing the IAM advanced as a "normal driver", apart form the cash...?!?

Tried speaking to one of the local IAM Groups, and after the guy saying that the IAM test was the ultimate (after the Police Class 1), he then said that he'd never heard of the Cardington test and for me to ring the HQ and ask them..!!!

Re: Cardington vs IAM Advanced

Well a couple of weeks ago i took the cardington and exactly 48 hrs later took the rospa test (based on roadcraft like IAM), i passed cardington with grade A and rospa at GOLD.

I feel that the cardington was the hardest, much harder. Bear in mind that all manouevres are included which need to be bang on, and your individual errors are recorded. Anymore than 3 and you won't get grade A which wouldn't be worth the bother!

As for the ROSPA, it was more relaxed. Your marked more as a whole, so the odd error here or there isn't recorded in the same way as cardington. The only manouevre i had to do was to turn the car around in a road and i chose to do it via right reverse. The whole drive seemed a piece of cake compared to the stiffer DSA test.

As for the differences in the two tests they boil down to gears, positioning and signalling.Cardington embraces the use of higher gears for economy, whereas roadcraft favours lower gears for stability and performance.Cardington opts for steady positioning using the centre of your lane for example whereas roadcraft would require you when possible to drive nearer the centre line for improved visibility and to be seen more easily (yes, yes, yes i know there are lots more differences regarding positioning but just trying to round it all off in a sentence for example!)As for signalling (no comments please hector) for roadcraft, really, really, really don't signal unless there is direct benefit to someone.

Re: Cardington vs IAM Advanced

Could'nt agree more with Adi.

I cannot understand all this rivalry. I passed DIAMOND SPECIAL on Thursday (ZERO) for anyone interested. Very similiar to Cardington. In a nutshell both drives were HWC perfect. Including manoeveres. Ive found that IAM and Rospa to be a little too geared towards PROGRESS, but not in the non hesitant sense of the word, more in the speed sense of the word.

I see that IAM and ROSPA use the words SHOULD in the HWC and bend these a little to suit their own needs. A classic example is straight lining roundabouts for greater stability, or for want of a better word SPEED.

Im not here to Dis anyone but it gets my back up sometimes when Ive heard comments from people about instructors being the worse advanced drivers they have come across. etc etc

If your training to become an adi why not take the Diamond Advanced test as a mock for your part 2, you could also use the skill for life package the IAM offer for additional training. But make sure your not shown techniques which would not follow rigoroulsy the rules of the HWC.

Re: Cardington vs IAM Advanced

congratulations for someone who speaks sense after having passed the iam advanced test, before i did my part 2, it was an hour dirive with all the manouvers you can do on a test covered and i found the course to be based mainly on defensive driving not speed yes we kept making progress although all the time forward planning made an active role.

i found it a full on exam where your driving had to be a 100% but id say diamond rospa cardington its all the same safer driving so whichever course you choose to do is the right one there is no wrong course.

definately do it before your part 2 as i found the part 2 easy having passed with no minors,

Re: Cardington vs IAM Advanced

Re: Cardington vs IAM Advanced

Knowing absolutely nothing about the Cardington, those who have passed it normally have a little "Cardington grade A" So what are the grades, If "A" is a pass, I assume anything less is a fail or are there other grades? Or is it a case of if you don't pass at "A" it's not worth shouting about.

Re: Cardington vs IAM Advanced

i spoke about this today with another iam member and were both baffled a bit as cardington is not associated with thiam at all so how can you become a member of the iam that doesnt do anytihng with the cardington or drive the same way?????????????

Re: Cardington vs IAM Advanced

Thanks for the response on this one guys, a fair few interesting points raised….

This came about after I’d seen a lot if you on the forum putting your qualifications on the bottom of your posts (e.g. Cardington Grade A, ROSPA Gold, Diamond Special etc) and rightly so…I get the feeling these tests are no walk in the park..!!!!

Imagine 2 ADI’s, one did the IAM Advanced test before training as and ADI, the other did the Cardington after qualifying, so both are members of the IAM. I was curious if, in the eyes of potential pupils, one could be seen as a “better driver” than the other. I know that probably sounds really petty, but these are the sort of things I’m beginning to think about starting out in this driving business. I would say there is no better or worse, just different…like the PC and Apple Mac’s (am I opening another can of worms..?? ) I think I will go along with Bill’s idea and do as much CPD as possible when I'm qualified (finances and time permitting)

After passing part 2 last week, I’m getting nearer (in theory) to qualifying, and I’m trying to get as much background info as I can. I’ll probably be posting a lot over the next coming weeks, as I’ve got loads of questions about setting up as self employed, to franchise or not to franchise and what colour pants to wear on my first day………….

Re: Cardington vs IAM Advanced

At the end of the day if you hold an advanced driving qualification then your at a good standard. Drivers could argue all day about the pro's and con's of each style of driving used for each test and never come to an agreement.What i would say though, is if you have the time and finances to do the tests from both sides of the fence it can only enhance your teaching techniques, especially when dealing with learners but also those on refresher courses with a full licence, pass plus etc.

Re: Cardington vs IAM Advanced

Thanks Adi,

The route I'm thinking to go down is along the lines of get the green badge and instruct learners moving up to tek pass plus. Then do some sort of fleet/licence holder training then, maybe, move up to adi training. I can see a lot of courses and/or training for me, all a long way down the line tho...

I've just put in my order for the bumper pack of brown y-fronts too....

Re: Cardington vs IAM Advanced

Just like part 2, only the target is 3 or less faults, so a bit more pressure.The drive is from the examiners training centre based in cardington bedfordshire.The test route i did was rural with lots of villages and then into part of bedford. Apart from hedge vegetation being seriously overgrown restricting visibility in many places, the hardest part was keeping track of speed limits as they seemed to change every mile or so, and a couple of times i was left frantically looking for repeaters etc to confirm it!Some of you might think that with it being same as part 2 what's the deal, but if like me it's nearing a decade since you last did your part 2 it's good to put yourself to the challenge once again and confirm your still doing what you should be doing! It also helps bring it home how pupils feel when you take them for test, i've been a lot more sympathetic with them this last few weeks!!

Re: Cardington vs IAM Advanced

To clarify a few points

Cardington v Iams - No comparison. You can become an Iams special member by passing Cardington as the standard is way higher . Not the other way round though! Someone recently pointed out there is a qulification list with Iams that will qualify you as a full member, examiners for example.

Cardington is marked much higher than any other test (Including Rospa) and at an advanced standard (Not just harder learners!) Its way above part 2.